A Medieval All Hallows Eve
by blissful catatonia
Summary: Maria spends her first Halloween in the Castle of Masyaf and meets a strange boy but almost a decade passes before she learns the truth behind the encounter.
1. Chapter 1

"Altair its All Hallows Eve and I haven't been to mass."

He had laughed it off as superstition and told her to pray in her usual private fashion, "If God is there Maria he will hear you whether there is a priest in attendance or not."

She scowled at her new husband muttering under her breathe about heathens and their lack of understanding but the subject was dropped because a novice arrived and Maria didn't want to seem superstitious or weak in front of him.

Now hours later and long past the witching hour Maria was beginning to suffer the effects of her unborn baby pressing onto her full bladder. She looked to her right but he was asleep; she wanted to ask him to accompany her to her garderobe but her pride would never allow it. She lay there listening to the sounds of the wind rattling against the windows, flapping the flags and pushing open any door left loose.

'England might be gloomy and cold but at least we have the sense to put a door from the bed chamber to the small room.' Here she would have to leave her bedroom and walk around a corner to the room the assassin had specially arranged for his wife and her convenience.

She looked around the room peering into the ominous shadows trying to determine their true intent. If ever there is a night for lost souls to be lurking in a small dark corner this is it. She cautiously drew her legs from beneath her covers and pulled on her bed coat. She crept to the door of their bedroom and softly pulled on the handle, slowly creating enough space to peek through. The corridor certainly seemed clear but that was no real guarantee of safety.

She summoned all of her courage and stepped out into the dreary corridor. The stone was cold underfoot and her breathe left her body to create a small fine wispy cloud in front of her face. She tip-toed along the grey stone as fast as she could uttering small curses at her pregnant state for yet another inconvenience in her life.

Just before she reached the corner she had to turn Maria caught sight of someone ahead of her glide across the end of the passage. The white robes of the assassins gave him away immediately she knew it to be a novice wandering around after hours or perhaps a scholar unable to sleep because of all the bloody thinking those men did.

The corner came sooner than she hoped but not soon enough for her now loudly protesting bladder. The matter had become really quite urgent but at least it distracted her from her foolish childish fantasies. Her garderobe was the last room here and it was in fact the only room in this corner of the castle, somebody is using her facility without her permission. Not that she would grant them permission even if they asked.

She tapped gently on the door but got no reply.

Knocking louder now she asked of the interloper, "Not only are you using my pot without consent you add insult by keeping me in this draughty hall waiting for your exit."

No reply.

Frustrated now she blew a furious puff of air out of her nostrils and pulled the door open and if she caught them in the act well then they should have replied.

The room was empty.

She darted inside quickly barely inside before she closed the door behind her. She had seen someone come this way that had not been a fancy.

"A mere trick of shadows and moonlight Maria; take hold of your self."

She relieved herself quickly very much regretting her stubborn pride preventing her from having Altair stand outside waiting for her. She looked to her left and right constantly and noticed a small grating sound from the other side of the door. Half heartedly and in a voice weak with uncertainty she called out, "Who is there?"

No reply but the grating sound seemed to have moved further away. She stood with her ear to the door and listened but soon there was nothing to hear. She stayed put for a few moments feeling the draught sneak under the door turning her feet colder than the stone before it shifted the skirts of her bed clothes softly brushing the fabric against her calves.

Her hand trembled slightly as she reached for the handle tugging it softly preparing to perform the same ritual she had upon her egress from her chambers. It never budged; she tugged harder. This time it came in a couple of inches before it was yanked back hard and slammed into place. She almost screamed but Maria Thorpe does not scream like some soft hearted damsel in distress. She does however gasp and draw her hands away from the door.

She hears a small voice from the corridor but can't make out the words, she is sure they are Arabic but it is spoken in the softest whisper. She suddenly realises her husband heard her creep from the room and was probably playing a trick on her because of her earlier comments.

"Altair if that is you I want you to know I am in danger of giving birth right here on the floor; stop this foolishness at once."

She hears the whisper again but this time it is spoken against the crack in the door frame "Stay inside."

She heard it clear as day it sounded like the voice of a boy. Standing stock still her mind ran over every possible reasonable explanation for these events. Her mood had been ruined by pregnancy and her appetite for the spicy foods of her adopted country had increased unchecked. She had indigestion and it was upsetting her entire constitution. She hadn't slept a whole night in weeks; clearly her over tired brain was falling victim to the elements nothing more. That faint soft voice had been a gentle breeze sneaking between the gaps in the door.

She reckoned she had been standing in here for the best part of ten minutes and nothing else had happened surely the greatest sign yet that she was simply being imaginative. Her hand reached far more cautiously than before, the slight tremble now pronounced. Her finger tips brushed against the cold steel of the handle but nothing more.

She felt icy breathe on her neck and the same voice as before grated in her ear. "I told you to stay inside."

* * *

Some silly Halloween fun since I can't sleep if anyone actually reads this I'll do the conclusion tomorrow

To be continued maybe ?


	2. Chapter 2

Without pausing to look behind or scream she grabbed the handle and pulled against it with all the strength she could muster. Too much strength because there was no longer any resistance from the other side and she was thrown against the wall behind her. Now in her eighth month of pregnancy and as big as a house Maria struggled to get out of a chair but the speed she regained her feet and exited that bathroom would have suggested those struggles were false.

She dashed to the corridor and stopped dead. Whatever that gift is that human beings have for survival, that instinct which tells us to run when there is no perceived danger Maria was experiencing it now. The hair on the back of her neck was standing on end and her chest was clenched into a tight ball. She knew when she turned the corner she would be face to face with whatever had spoken, how she came to have this knowledge is a mystery but she knew it to be fact as she knew day followed night.

She leaned against the wall trying to steady her hammering heart and slow her ragged breathing. She closed her eyes hoping she would open them to daylight or Altair even Malik but that was the false desperate hope of a mind in terrible need of reassurance. Her foot twitched and took a small step forward; whatever was waiting she wanted to face it with her chin up but her chin was not the problem... it was her nerve which was failing her.

"Altair can you hear me?" This was no time for pride or more especially the fall which is said to follow. She raised her voice higher hating how scared she sounded but no reply from the man who would wake if she shifted on the bed but he couldn't hear her beseeching cries. She swallowed hard and balled her hands into fists then stuck her head out from behind the wall to glance along the corridor. It was empty. The relief she felt was short lived as her gaze lowered and she saw the source of the ethereal voice.

There was a boy of around 10 years sitting on the ground outside her room. For a second she thought perhaps he was novice until she saw his eyes staring back at her from his shallow sunken face.

His tear stained cheeks were topped by two orbs which were the purest reflection of heartache she had ever witnessed. He seemed to reach inside her and twist her very soul; his agony was so utterly tangible she felt it in her core.

"You should have stayed inside."

"Who are you?" Stepping into the corridor she took small steps towards the form, she recognised him but couldn't quite place him.

"You know who I am Maria."

"What is wrong with you?"

"I saw him die, he took his own life. My parents are both dead, my Mother died that I may live and my Father died that another may live but it was an empty gesture for he took his own life soon after."

He lowered his head to the ground and Maria felt a powerful urge to comfort him but how do you embrace an echo, something no more substantial than a dense shadow? And she feared him, this weak boy with so much pain etched into his young features. There was something terrible about his expression and Maria knew she didn't want to learn what that was. "Are you dead too?"

"I died when they did. Not at the same time but gradually, slowly. There was no Saracen axe waiting for my neck but I died just the same."

She dared a step nearer this vision of misery. "What is your name?"

"I am a boy but a man, a husband but have not yet grown and a father to be yet a child I remain."

She repeated her earlier question more forcefully. "What is your name?"

"Flying eagle son of none. The other man who raised me is dead too I took his life before he could take mine and ruin the only thing in the world I believe in. I am no man's son do you think that makes me a wise choice to be the father of your own?"

She dropped to her knees as the horrific realisation of who she was speaking to dawned on her. "This is not possible, you can't be him. He is alive in bed I left him there moments ago."

His gaze drifted to her own tear stained face, "Do you believe you can save him Maria? He died long before you met him, a shell remains but there is no peace for him for the man who allowed this boy to die slowly. He let me die that the man would emerge strong and resilient."

"You told me to stay inside yet here you sit waiting for me. What is it you want from me?"

His eyes flashed with anger, golden sparks lit up as though he were reflecting the flames of a thousand candles. "I want you to know who you have married. A cold man unfettered by the constraints of weak emotion. His hunger for wisdom and understanding compel him to carry on but life with its trials and petty woes are beneath him."

She had heard similar words spoken of her husband not so damning as this boys but harsh nonetheless. Her temper flared as she thought of the man asleep on the other side of the door that had such gentle ways with her body and soul she could almost believe herself something pure and precious, something to be treasured. "You are wrong. Whose standards am I to judge him by but my own. He set me free and offered me a life of learning and of meaning. He loves me and he will love his child."

"You defend him? You who know better than most the lengths he will go to in order to achieve his goals. Did he not kill your lover dismantling your life in the process and he expected you to accept this with the same indifference, the same arrogance he displays to all mankind." The boy stood and Maria noticed his legs were dirty and bare; he had goose bumps on his bluish skin but the hue might owe more to the moonlight casting an unearthly glow on his flesh. "He would die to save one man to set him free from the shackles of slavery yet he would kill a hundred men to gain access to an enemy."

"We understand the contradiction boy but we have made peace with it. My husband is troubled and he is prone to sadness but I know in my heart he feels more than he shows to others. I know it because I see it; with me he is both loving and warm. Perhaps he will never compose a sentimental dirge or a romantic poem but he shows it when he watches me walk down stairs to make sure I don't stumble. I see it when he helps me to understand his language even though I have no real gift for it. He will be a good Father because he has endless patience and complete control over his temper. His children will never be beaten in the heat of anger nor shall they ever suffer rough words spoken without thought. You see life as a child and I suggest you see love in the same way. Love is more than soft whispers and longing looks and had you more than these boyish years of experience you would know that."

He moved closer to her and Maria saw death in his features, his pallid grey flesh hung loosely across his bones and his lips - so beautiful and full in life- were drawn into two angry thing lines. She could smell him now he smelled of age and decay. Still his eyes were undeniably those of the man she married but at their core she saw bitterness and malevolence; this child had suffered and he wanted to share his pain.

"You may yet find you are deluding yourself Maria." He walked to the end of the corridor and turned his sad eyes back to hers once final time. "Could it be the people he has chosen to surround himself with can save him from his empty core? Perhaps we shall meet again another day to discuss these very things."

He walked beyond the reach of the moon's light and vanished from her sight. She stood on legs still unsteady and walked the few short steps to the room she shared with her husband.

He was sleeping just as he had been when she left him. She climbed in beside him and curled her limbs around his. He threw an arm over her ripe stomach and pulled her body closer to his shivering when he felt the cold of her skin next to his own. "You are freezing my love come here." His hands rubbed her chilled flesh creating a beautiful sensation of warmth.

"I had to go to the garderobe again the sooner this child is out of my belly the better."

He chuckled softly and whispered sleepy words of his desire to be a father in her ear before drifting back to the peace of his dreams.

Maria lay awake most of that night wondering about what she had seen. She tried to convince herself it was nothing but a product of her imagination but in the deepest corner of her heart she knew better.

He was haunted by his past by the losses he had suffered and by the choices he made and now it was up to her and Malik and eventually his children to protect him from the cold dark secrets which left free to work on him would consume his very soul.

* * *

I never expected this slightly Dickensian plot twist but things that go bump in the night are seldom what we expect them to be Happy Halloween :)

A/N I thought this fic was complete but I think there is another chapter lurking the corner of my brain.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N I want to leave the rating as K+ but I think the next chapter might test that. One more to go and we have our silly little Halloween tale complete :)

* * *

There are no candles to chase away the darkness in the room the two boys shared; they were being bred to face fear not to seek shelter from it. Darim and Sef had been dispatched to bed with minimal fuss as was the assassin way. Maria entered quietly to bid them a more sentimental goodnight as was a mother's way. She dropped a soft kiss on the cheek of each boy and lifted clothes Darim had left on the floor.

"You know if your teachers saw how slovenly you were in private they would punish you severely."

He smiled sleepily at her gentle rebuke and pulled the covers around his shoulders to block out the cold. "Mother will you tell us about this Hallow day and why it troubles you so much."

Placing the folded clothing on the back of the chair she took she explained to them about how it had been an ancient pagan festival signifying the end of productive season and the beginning of winter. "It's about renewal, life and death and it is believed on this day the doorway between the worlds of the living and dead is left open for the departed to return to their homes and be welcomed by their kin."

Darim screwed up his face "You welcome the dead?"

"That is the idea yes but it's also a day when Christians celebrate their most venerated martyrs. An important day in our religious year and it troubles me as you say because I cannot attend a mass to offer my worship, nothing more sinister than that." A pair of haunted golden eyes flashed through her conscious even as she made her denial of any fear.

Darim's eyes dropped closed and Maria stood to leave but her youngest sons quiet voice stopped her, "Is there really nothing to fear from the dead Omm?" He raised himself from the mattress and in the gloomy moonlight she could see his features were troubled. "I mean if it is our family who come they would do us no harm would they, Abee would never hurt me would he?"

She lowered herself onto the floor beside his bed and smiled as she brushed his dark brown hair from his head. She marvelled at how much he favoured his father in appearance even down to the hypnotic amber eyes. "Sef there is nothing to worry about I would imagine the dead have better things to do than hang around a draughty old castle and no he would never hurt you."

"He was an unhappy boy wasn't he?"

Her own expression began to match her sons. "What makes you say that?"

"Nothing just something one of the boys I play with told me. You're right there is nothing to fear." His small face brightened with a warm smile which as usual melted her heart.

"Leila Sa'eeda my little prince you are safe and warm in bed." She graced his cheek with one final kiss and watched as his heavy lids closed before quietly leaving them to sleep.

Altair was still in the Master's study but she was in no mood for his philosophical ramblings tonight. Darim was right this night did trouble her but it was for reasons none would ever believe. As she made her way to her bed chamber she paused outside to glance at the spot where he had sat all those years ago. A soft chill ran along her spine causing her to shudder, "No more of this tonight Maria it was only a dream."

She prepared herself for bed feeling the onset of a headache begin to nip at her skull. Abandoning her plans to go over some tactical drawings Malik had come up with she blew out the candle and lay her head on the soft pillow.

His golden eyes had shimmered in the moonlight but the one lingering feeling Maria had long after she had woken up was one of impending threat. That boy had harm in his heart as sure as a beehive has honey in its centre and even nine years later she still thought of him with dread. She drifted off to sleep to inconsequential dreams she would never remember and felt nothing of the outside world.

"If you make a sound you will wake Darim and you know he never wants you to have any fun."

* * *

Sef sat up his young mind trying to process a set of variables that were simply too complex. This boy was not a nice boy he knew that but his Omm had told him that the dead came back for a feast and he knew those to be fun. He wasn't exactly sure this boy was dead but he did know he only appeared at night and nobody from the village or the fortress knew of a boy called Altair other than his own ab that is.

The boy stood impatiently shifting at the foot of his bed and Sef having realised he had no more time to consider pulled back his thick covers and followed him outside.

* * *

Maria woke up suddenly her brain close to panic. She had dreamed of the boy after all but it still took her sluggish mind seconds to figure out what she was panicking about. "One of the boys I play with told me." She was out of bed and heading in the direction of her son's room before her brain offered its first rational objection but she dismissed it out of hand. Where her boys were concerned her thinking was driven purely by instinct, she knew she wouldn't rest until she saw them both tucked up in bed.

Darim's bed was closest to the door and he was there sleeping soundly, she had to shove her head fully around the door to check on Sef and when she saw his dishevelled covers half on the floor but her son nowhere to be seen her panic escalated and this time she let her logical mind have control. He has to be somewhere 'check the usual places before you start a full scale search.' She looked at the side of his bed and underneath but no Sef. She ran to the room where they ate their meals and where her sons played but no sign of Sef here either.

She made her way down to her husband's study but found him gone. She turned on her heels to go downstairs when Malik stuck his head out from one of the nooks in the study. "Is something wrong Maria you look flustered?"

She jumped when she heard his voice but never wasted time feeling foolish for it. "Have you seen Sef he isn't in his room?"

Malik stepped out from behind the shelves and looked to the ornate window; it was a wild night outside, "No I haven't but Altair has just left for a few minutes perhaps he met him on his way to the toilet."

Her heart sank she knew he wasn't with his father, "I'll look downstairs I'm sure there is no need for panic."

Malik watched her go perplexed by what he had seen in her demeanour. This woman had shown many emotions in the time he had known her but he had never seen such fear in her eyes. He moved to the window and watched as she ran across the forecourt calling for her son.

* * *

Minutes before Sef and the boy had came down the back stairs and exited from a small door in the corner of the training yard. Ahead of them was the steep hill with ladders at the end of it which led to the high place his father had once leapt from. Sef knew he was not allowed to go but that never stopped the boy he continued up the hill until he noticed Sef wasn't following him he scowled, "Do you want to stand in the rain all night?"

"This place is forbidden I can't go there."

The boy's eyes flashed and even though the sky was thick with rain clouds Sef could see the fury in his gaze. He lowered his head against the downpour and trudged up the hill behind him, sliding in the mud half way up the boy reached down and lifted him effortlessly back to his feet, "Careful silly we don't want you getting hurt now do we?"

* * *

Maria ran outside and began heading to the arched entrance to the castle but she forced herself not to run. She searched the ground frantically for any sign that he had been there. The rain battered against her but the only attention she afforded it was the constant wiping of water from her eyes. A loud crash of thunder boomed overhead and raising her head like startled animal she stood waiting for the flash that would follow. Seconds later the entire area was illuminated for a brief time and she saw them not more than three feet from where she stood, two sets of small footprints going up the hill.

Her stomach twisted into knots as it sunk in where her son had been taken, "SEF." She howled his name in a lung bursting shout and began to run to the ladders.

* * *

Sef stopped after the first set of ladders he didn't want to go higher. He moved to a small rug on the floor and suggested they stop here to play.

The boy turned just a flash of lightening lit up the tower and Sef saw something horrible happen to his face, "We need to go the next level that is where all the magic happens. Stop delaying and get up those ladders."

Sef's mind was ordering him to comply but his little body was frozen with fear, "I-I c-can't stand up." He felt salty tears spill over his eyes and run down his already sodden cheeks but there was no shame in them for him. Darim would tease him mercilessly for crying but Sef was sure even Darim would cry if he had seen what just happened to the other boy's face.

He heard his name being called from below and his mother's voice granted his tiny heart the courage to move. He spun around and ran for the entrance but a hand larger than it should be grabbed his collar and dragged him to the ladders. "Up we go little man; there is a feast of misery waiting to be had."

Sef tried to call for his mother but the thing which had been a boy roughly pulled him round to face him and the look on his face stole his voice right out from his throat.

"Wise choice Sef do you really want your precious Omm to witness what is about to happen?"

Sef submitted to the arm around his waist as he felt himself being lifted from the ground and carried one handed to the higher level of the tower.

* * *

Translations (according to some guy on yahoo answers at least :D)

Omm: Mum

Ab: Dad

Abee: my Dad

Leila Sa'eeda: Good night


	4. Chapter 4

A/N I am so tempted to change this to a T rating but only to be cautious. I spent the whole day playing AC3 so literally only finished this in the last half hour or so. Sorry it's not what I had planned but it is only a silly fic to mark Halloween so I don't really care :D

* * *

Maria's foot slipped on the rain slick wood of the ladder and she fell back the ground, hitting her forehead against one of the rungs as she dropped back down. Ignoring the pain she rose and began her ascent again trying to be sure footed and swift. She gained the second level and could hear her sons weak sobs from above, "I'm coming Sef don't worry."

The internal ladders were at least dry and she practically flew up them when she reached the end she hoisted her body onto the solid ground and stood to face what she now knew to be a threat to her entire family. Sef was on the ground at the entrance to one of the wooden platforms and he was standing over him regarding her with venomous hatred.

It was the boy from all those years ago or at least she thought it was. His face was so contorted by age that the only thing she could recognise was his eyes.

"Let my son go."

"Tonight you are bold and brave; the lioness protecting her cub. Quite a change from the trembling woman I met before."

"I don't know who you are but I know who you are not. My husband would never harm a child, an innocent. Move away from my son." She had no weapon but she was still prepared to fight this creature. As she moved closer he backed away moving behind Sef now with the drop at his back.

"I wanted you to leave him you know. I don't care about you or your happiness the only thing that matters to me is his pain. Had you paid any heed to my words you would have left and we would not be standing here now." He looked down at Sef and snarled, "Hear that boy what you now suffer you suffer because of her."

Sef cringed rolling even tighter into his protective shape. The sight of her sons fear sparked a fury in her gut unlike anything she had ever experienced. Her lip drew back as she bared her teeth at the creature now hovering over her son. "Harm him and no force on heaven or earth will stop me from tearing you apart." Walking towards them as she spoke she saw something unexpected in his face, fear...

He moved back into the room as he and Maria began to circle each other, her hands at her side seemingly relaxed but he saw the tension in her shoulders; she was ready.

"I met him when he was a boy. My previous uhh... host had died and I needed to find another fast. He was here alone having lost his father and then the only real friend he had, perfect for my needs. I feasted well on him for many years you can't imagine my joy at finding a man who was not only bereft of love but who inflicted pain and death on others. The supply of suffering was endless and I gorged myself on it."

He made the slightest move in her direction but stopped when she matched him. "Things changed so quickly I had no time to halt the disastrous road he was on. He began to see things from a more human perspective, no longer a man who would feed my need for agony without question. He still took the lives of others but the wonderfully sweet flavour of their death was tinged by the remorse he felt for his actions and then you appeared and he became almost dull."

"But why this form why appear to me as a boy and not as he is now?"

He shrugged and his face seemed to shimmer in the dim light Maria fancied she saw what looked like faces within his own all clambering to reach the surface. "You were with child what better way to communicate with a mother-to-be than to appear as a helpless child."

Sef shuffled behind her and Maria stepped forward placing herself directly between her son and the... "What exactly are you?"

Sef whined like a wounded dog when the thing emitted an ear piercing laugh, Maria glanced back at her son wishing he didn't have to suffer this but her distraction was the very thing the creature sought. The instant her head was turned he flew across the floor and attached himself to her torso slamming her to the ground with such violent force he teeth knocked together and her head spun.

He hovered above her face his mouth no more than an inch from hers the smell of putrid rotting meat assaulted her nostrils but thankfully it brought her back to her senses. He began to sniff the air like an animal that has caught the scent of its prey on the breeze. His fingers tightened around her throat and his eyes danced with malignant joy as he watched her fruitless battle to survive. He loosened his grip ever so slightly there was no need to rush this the boy was omitting the most divine smells of fear. He decided to answer her question in an effort to prolong both their agony and his ecstasy.

"I have no name or if I ever did I can't recall what it was. I was there when the pyramids were being constructed feeding on the agony of the slaves being whipped and worked to death and even then I was ancient. You cannot hope to beat me all you can do is delay the inevitable only death will separate me from your husband."

"Yours or mine?" The deep baritone voice which came from behind the creature took them both by surprise, Maria had never been so happy to see her husband but she doubted the demon found his appearance so comforting. He sprang to his feet with inhuman speed and faced his host.

"We were never meant to meet but knowing about me makes no difference human. I would have thrown your son from this ledge and waited to soak up the agony which would have seeped from your every pore then I would have taken the other."

"My knowing means you cannot achieve your goals and so you have lost already." Altair moved his feet to the side and began stalking the little man but he knew exactly what to expect.

"I know what you would do before you have even thought of it you idiot you can't harm me! I was there beside you when you spilled every drop of blood in this life. You move right and I shall go left." As if to prove his point he swivelled his body and danced perilously close to the assassin's blade hand but always twisted his sickeningly unnatural form away before any injury could be inflicted. With his back to the ladder he grinned triumphantly and he began to move toward it never taking his eyes from the man and woman now facing him.

"I will leave now but I do so will the complete certainty that I will return to finish this night's work."

Maria saw the black cloaked figure rise up from behind him and then she saw his sword pierce the middle of the demons chest. "You can predict what he will do but the rest of us are a mystery to you, you foul creature."

The demon dropped to the floor his head landing at Malik's feet; he raised his sword one last time and swung it at his neck but before the killing blow could be struck the most incredible thing happened which left Malik gazing down at him in horrified wonder, his sword frozen in the air.

His face changed from one to another so fast it was impossible to track the alteration to their naked eye it looked like there was something alive under the flesh writhing and contorting in an effort to free themselves from this villainous fiend. Maria felt Sef's fingers wrap around her ankle and she bent to scoop him up but Altair took him from her and pressed his son's face to his chest.

"He has seen enough."

The boy made no argument Maria watched as his little fingers clung to the fabric of his father's black robes. Malik's appalled gasp brought her attention back to the ugly scene being played out on the floor. His face had finished shifting but the skin had suffered such abuse it was smoking and bubbling as though everything inside the creature was boiling.

"I think we have all seen enough." He completed the swing of the sword and severed the head from the rest of the body. It twitched and kicked for a few seconds before it finally came to rest. "You both take the boy out of here and send me a couple of novices I don't know about you but I won't sleep until I have seen this things funeral pyre burn to ashes."

It was hours later before Altair could finally convince Maria the danger had passed, she wanted to stay with them but he felt that would only weaken the boys. "I'll post guards outside their door and tell them to look inside every few minutes but it is over Maria the thing is dead."

She relented and grudgingly returned to the study downstairs where Malik was waiting to bring them news of its destruction. He decided not to tell Maria of the hellish howls and cries which had been heard for the first few minutes of the fire; he would save that little gem for Altair alone.

Maria told them of her encounter with the demon in her first year at the castle and together they spent the remainder of the night trying to fathom what unholy creature had managed to crawl free from the bowels of hell.

"It seems he was dependant on misery and spent his existence moving from one victim to the next, seeking out those who would feed his need for negativity and sorrow the more devoid of joy the better." Altair saw the amused look his wife and his second in command shared and he stood back from the desk and walked towards the stairs determined not to allow them the chance to target him.

But he never moved fast enough; his foot had barely reached the first stair when he heard Malik's mocking tone call out after him, "He may have been evil but we cannot deny he was a good judge of character."


End file.
